Located neat the ghost town of Wendte is a unique truss with an equally unique back story.
While South Dakota may have a number of Quadrangular Through Truss bridges, few have a relocation history.
Many frugal railroads believed heavily in relocating bridges from main lines to branch lines as a form of recycling. A series of bridges between Winona, Minnesota and Madison, Wisconsin were replaced in 1927 and the old spans relocated.
This span is believed to have been relocated from the Black River Bridge.
An 18 inch difference is what sets this span apart from spans relocated from the Winona Bridge, which produced most of the relocated spans for this division.
When erected here in 1928, the bridge replaced an earlier wooden Howe Truss, constructed in 1907.
Currently, the bridge sits on concrete substructures and is approached by trestle spans on either side. The current bridge consists of a single riveted Quadrangular Through Truss.
Overall, the bridge remains in good condition. During the Canadian Pacific days, the bridge was rehabilitated by replacing some rivets.
While there were approximately five similar trusses built, this is the only one relocated from Lytles Landing along this line.
The author has ranked this bridge as being highly significant, due to the relocation history and age.
The photo above is an overview.
| Upstream | RCP&E Bad River Bridge #11 |
| Downstream | RCP&E Bad River Bridge #9 |